#1: From interview [2006]

#2: With Danny Boyle [right] - "Sunshine" [2005]

 

   


ALWIN KÜCHLER   BSC

 

Born: 1965, Düsseldorf, Germany, as Alwin H. Küchler.

Education: National Film and Television School [NFTS], UK [graduated in 1994].

Career: Became apprenticed to a fashion photographer and learnt a lot by using a Hasselblad middle format camera with a Polaroid back. Every photograph had to be scrutinized for its lighting and composition before starting to take stills on reversal film stock. Towards the end of the apprenticeship, a friend, Jakob Claussen, who was then studying at the film school in Munich, asked him to shoot one of his film school exercises. When Claussen showed him the edited result Kuchler became hooked on filmmaking. At 25 he was lucky enough to get offered a place at the NFTS. He found his vocation and a wife. He also met Lynne Ramsay and started working with her on her short films. It was Lynne who gave him his first big break on the film 'Ratcatcher'.

Ph music videos. Ph numerous commercials dir by Ashley King [for Nokia], Jeff Thomas [for Sony], Tom Pollack [for Stella Artois], Frank Budgen [for Reebok (2001)], Sara Sugarman [for Eurostar], Peter Cattaneo [for Kit Kat], Peter Thwaites [for Ford], Patrick Senn, Ringan Ledwidge [for Levis], Juan Cabral [for Sony (2009)], a.o.

Married to dir Ngozi Onwurah [1998-present].

Awards: Les Lutins du Court Métrage 'Best Cinematography Award' nom [1998] for 'Gasman'; British Independent Film Award 'Most Promising Newcomer' [1999] for 'Ratcatcher'; BSFC Award '3rd place' [2000] & Valladolid IFF Award [2001] for 'The Claim'; Dinard British FF 'Kodak Award for Best Cinematography' [2002], British Independent Film Award [2002], Stockholm IFF 'Best Cinematography' [2002] & European Film Award nom [2002] for 'Morvern Callar'; British Television Advertising Awards 'Craft Award' nom [2002] for 'Reebok' [commercial dir by Frank Budgen]; European Film Award nom [2004; shared] for 'Code 46'

Website: Alwin Küchler


 FILMS

1986

Hafenklang [Jakob Claussen] c; music video/3m; prod HFFM

1987

Finger [Jakob Claussen] c; short/7m; prod HFFM

1989

Hüte [Jakob Claussen] c; music video/3m; prod HFFM

1989

Musik [Jakob Claussen] c; mus doc/?m; prod HFFM

1991

Flying Colours [Sean Geoghegan] 16mm/c; short/5m; prod NFTS; also aired as ep of ITV's 'First Cut'-series

1992

Flight of the Swan [Ngozi Onwurah] c; short/11m

1993

Welcome II the Terrordome [Ngozi Onwurah] c

1994

The Shaman [Sean Geoghegan] 16mm/c; short/35m; prod NFTS

1994

Siren Spirits [seg (19m) 'White Men Are Cracking Up' dir by Ngozi Onwurah & seg (20m) 'Get Me to the Crematorium on Time' dir by Dani Williamson] b&w-c; comp of 4 shorts; other dir: Pratibha Parmar ('Memsahib Rita') & Frances-Anne Solomon ('Bideshi')

1995

Small Deaths [Lynne Ramsay] c; short/11m; cph: L. Ramsay; prod NFTS

1995

Soprano (Synchro Year 3) [Dani Williamson] BetaSP/c; mus doc/8m

1995

The Desired Number [Ngozi Onwurah] c; doc/28m; ep (Nigeria) of 3-part series 'Women's Lives and Choices'; other ep: 'Ventre Livre/Freeing the Womb/Liberation' (d: Ana Luiza Azevedo; Brazil) & 'Rishte/Relationships' (d: Manjira Datta; India); prod for the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

1996

Kill the Day [Lynne Ramsay] 16mm-35bu/c; short/19m; ph field seq: Tom Townend

1996

The Baptism [Christos Georgiou] 16mm/c; short/20m; addph; ph: Roman Osin

1997

Gasman [Lynne Ramsay] c; short/15m; prod for BBC Scotland

1998

Ratcatcher [Lynne Ramsay] c; 2uc: Thomas Townend & Nick Barrett

1998

Vacuum [Teresa McCann] c; short/6m

2000

The Claim [Michael Winterbottom] s35/c; 2uc: Dean Bennett

2000

Hang Time [Ngozi Onwurah] c; short/26m; also part of comp 'Mama Africa' (2001; 156m)

2000

Lucky Break [Peter Cattaneo] c; 2uc: Adam Suschitzky

2001

Morvern Callar [Lynne Ramsay] c; 2uc: Thomas Townend

2001

Heartlands [Damien O'Donnell] c

2002

The Mother [Roger Michell] s16-35bu/c; 2uc: Thomas Townend

2003

Code 46 [Michael Winterbottom] s35/c; cph: Marcel Zyskind; 2uc (dv): Anne Marie Lean-Vercoe; 3uc (dv): Roger Eaton & Sebastian Sharples

2003

Proof [John Madden] s35/c; 2uc: Jake Polonsky (UK) & Alan Thatcher (Chicago)

2005

Sunshine [Danny Boyle] Hawk Scope+s35+65mm-to-35mm scope/c; 2uc: Peter Talbot; model ph: Stuart Galloway

2006

A Portrait of London [seg dir by Ngozi Onwurah] dv/c; comp of several 5-minute 'digital postcards' shown on 27 October in Trafalgar Square celebrating the 50th London Film Festival

2007

Saturday's Shadow [Nick Gordon] c; short/10m

2008

Largo al factotum (di Gioacchino Rossini) [Dougal Wilson] b&w; commercial/4m25s; for English National Opera

2008

Solitary Man [Brian Koppelman & David Levien] s35-to-35mm/c

2009

Morning Glory [Roger Michell] p (+ D-Cinema)/c; 2uc: Frank DeMarco; aph: Phil Pastuhov

2010

Marley [Kevin Macdonald] s35+s16+HD (Canon EOS 5D)-to-35mm (+ D-Cinema)/c; mus doc/145m; cph: Mike Eley & Wally Pfister; addph: Jess Hall, Jean-Luc Perréard & Masanobu Takayanagi; 2uc: Peter Emery; announced in 2008 with Martin Scorsese as dir and in 2009 with dir Jonathan Demme; released in 2012

 

"Hanna" - photo by Alex Bailey

 

2010

Hanna [Joe Wright] s35+HD (Sony HXR-MC1P & PMW-350)-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema)/c; 2uc: Martin Kenzie & (Finland) Tuomo Hutri; Marine unit ph (New York): David Knox

2011

R.I.P.D. [Robert Schwentke] HD (ARRI ALEXA)-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema [also 3-D version])/c; 2uc: Gary Capo; uncred aph: Steve Koster; addph element unit: Tony Cutrono; uncred time lapse ph: Colin Rich

2013

Divergent [Neil Burger] HD (ARRI ALEXA M & Plus)-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema)/c; addph (Los Angeles): Don Burgess; 2uc: Paul Hughen & Jake Polonsky; aph: John Trapman (2u) & Hans Bjerno (Los Angeles); uwph: Peter Zuccarini

2015

Steve Jobs [Danny Boyle] s35+s16+HD (ARRI ALEXA XT/scope)+RED Epic Dragon-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema)/c

2016

One More Time with Feeling [Andrew Dominik] RED Epic Dragon/b&w-c/2-D & 3-D; mus doc/113m; cph: Benoît Debie

 

 TELEVISION

1990

Who Stole the Soul? [Ngozi Onwurah] doc/30m; ep BBC-tv series 'Birthrights'

1992

And Still I Rise [Ngozi Onwurah] doc/30m; ep BBC-tv series 'Birthrights'

1992

Monday's Girls [Ngozi Onwurah] doc/47m/16mm; ep BBC-tv series 'Under the Sun'

1994

Beyond the Veil [Ngozi Onwurah] doc/30m

1994

Fathers, Sons & Unholy Ghosts [Danny Thompson] tvm/11m; cph: Oliver Curtis

1995

London Bridge [24 ep dir by various] 237-part soap series, 1996-99; 2nd season, 1996-97 (99 ep)

1995

Looking for Love [Lucy Pilkington] doc/30m

1995

Benin-Tales [Ngozi Onwurah] dram doc/30m

1995

Behind the Mask [Ngozi Onwurah] dram doc/29m; ep 6-part BBC-tv series 'Hidden Empire'

1996

I Bring You Frankincense [Ngozi Onwurah] tvm/32m/16mm; ep 4-part BBC-tv series 'Crucial Tales'

1996

Spiders and Flies [Danny Thompson] tvm/29m/16mm; ep 4-part BBC-tv series 'Crucial Tales'

1997

Sunny's Ears [Jane Prowse] 4-part children's series; for ITV

1998

Hungry [Richard Clark] tvm/24m; ep Channel 4 series 'Acts of Passion'

1999

One Day in September [Kevin Macdonald] doc/b&w-c/94m; cph: Neve Cunningham; ep BBC-tv series 'Storyville'; also released theatrically

1999

In a Land of Plenty [Hettie MacDonald (ep #1-5) & David Moore (ep #6-10)] 10-part series, 2001; filmed April-December

2000

Wingspan [Alistair Donald] doc/120m; cph: Julian Court, Richard Numeroff & Adam Suschitzky

2003

The Deal [Stephen Frears] tvm

 

 MISCELLANEOUS

2001

28 Days Later.../29 Days Later [Danny Boyle] mdv+8mm+35mm-to-35mm/c; co-thanks; ph: Anthony Dod Mantle